[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 151 (Thursday, August 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42059-42061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-21013]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-030-1320-00 [WYW139975]]
Ark Land Company Coal Lease Application, Carbon County, WY
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DEIS) and Notice of Public Hearing.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 40 CFR 1500-1508, the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) announces the availability of a
[[Page 42060]]
DEIS for Ark Land Company Coal Lease Application Serial Number
WYW139975 in the Green River-Hams Fork Coal Production Region of
Wyoming and the scheduled date and place for a public hearing pursuant
to 43 CFR 3425.4. The purpose of the hearing is to solicit comments on
the DEIS and on the fair market value (FMV) and Maximum Economic
Recovery (MER) of the proposed lease tract.
DATES: The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. MDT, on September 9,
1998, at the Town of Hanna Administrative Office, 301 S. Adams, Hanna,
Wyoming. There will be an informal session starting at 6 p.m. MDT,
before the formal hearing, to answer questions regarding the Ark Land
Company coal lease application and the coal leasing process. Written
comments on the DEIS will be accepted for 60 days following the date
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes their Notice of
Availability in the Federal Register. We expect the EPA notice will be
published on August 14, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Please address questions, comments, or requests for copies
of the DEIS to Area Manager, Great Divide Resource Area Office, Bureau
of Land Management, P.O. Box 2407, 1300 North Third Street, Rawlins,
Wyoming 82301.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Interested parties may direct
questions, concerns, or obtain further information by contacting Karla
Swanson, Great Divide Resource Area Manager, Brenda Vosika Neuman,
Project Team Leader, or John Spehar, Planning and Environmental
Coordinator, at the Bureau of Land Management Office, P.O. Box 2407,
1300 N. Third Street, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301, or by telephone at: (307)
328-4200.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the provisions of 43 CFR 3425.1,
Ark Land Company, St. Louis, Missouri, filed an application with the
BLM on September 20, 1996, to obtain a Federal coal lease on 4145.15
acres of Federal coal lands located in Carbon County, Wyoming.
The lease application area is located in the Carbon Basin,
approximately 40 miles east of the town of Rawlins, 5 miles northwest
of the town of Elk Mountain, 13 miles southwest of the town of Medicine
Bow, and 12 miles southeast of the town of Hanna. The BLM has
recommended that 1280 acres containing approximately 59 million tons of
in-place coal reserves be included in the lease tract to allow a
reasonable underground mine plan with enough reserves for a new mine
start. The BLM has also recommended that 190 acres with no in-place
coal reserves be removed from the original lease application.
One hundred and sixty acres of land were eliminated from the lease
application because they lie outside of the outcrop line and contain no
Hanna Formation coals. Thirty acres of land located in the Medicine Bow
River floodplain were determined to be unsuitable for coal mining. The
original lease application was for the following lands:
Sixth Principal Meridian
T. 20 N., R. 79 W.,
Sec. 6, lot 5.
T. 20 N., R. 80 W.,
Sec. 4, lots 1, 2, and 3;
Sec. 6, lots 1 and 2, and SE1/4;
Sec. 12, N\1/2\NW\1/4\ and NW\1/4\NE\1/4\.
T. 21 N., R. 79 W.,
Sec. 20, N\1/2\ and SW\1/4\;
Sec. 28, NW\1/4\;
Sec. 30, lots 1 to 4, inclusive, E\1/2\, and E\1/2\W\1/2\;
Sec. 32, NW\1/4\.
T.21 N., R. 80 W.,
Sec. 26, All;
Sec. 28, W\1/2\ and SE\1/4\;
Sec. 32, E\1/2\ and SE\1/4\SW\1/4\;
Sec. 34, All.
The lands described contain 4145.15 acres, more or less.
The BLM has recommended that the following lands be excluded
from the application:
Sixth Principal Meridian
T. 20 N., R. 80 W.,
Sec. 12, S\1/2\NW\1/4\NE\1/4\ and SE\1/4\NE\1/4\NW\1/4\.
T. 21 N. R. 79 W.,
Sec. 28, NW\1/4\.
The lands described contain 190 acres, more or less.
The BLM has recommended that the following additional lands
containing approximately 59 million tons of in-place coal reserves
be included in the application:
Sixth Principal Meridian
T. 21 N., R. 80 W.,
Sec. 22, All;
Sec. 24, All.
The lands described contain 1280 acres, more or less. The tract, as
amended by the BLM, contains a total of 5235.15 acres and approximately
149.7 million tons of in-place coal. On May 13, 1998, Ark Land Company
agreed with BLM's recommendations and revised their original lease
application to reflect the changes stated above. All lands included in
the lease application have been evaluated in the document
``Environmental Assessment for Coal Planning Decisions in the Carbon
Basin Area of the Great Divide Resource Area, BLM 1998''. BLM has
determined these lands are suitable for further consideration for coal
leasing and development.
Coal mining would be conducted by Arch of Wyoming, Inc. (Arch), an
affiliate of Ark Land Company, if it is successful in obtaining a
Federal coal lease in the proposed project area. Arch has operated coal
mines in the Hanna Basin Region of Carbon County since 1972. The
depletion of recoverable coal reserves in the Hanna Basin has led Arch
to identify additional (local) coal resources in the Carbon Basin area
that could utilize the existing infrastructure and meet existing
contracts or long-term commitments. The Carbon Basin area, an area with
a mixture of private, State, and Federal lands, is close to the Hanna
Basin coal fields and provides a logical continuation of the Hanna
Basin mining operations.
The DEIS analyzes two alternatives. The No Action Alternative is a
``no Federal leasing'' alternative rather than a ``no mining''
alternative. The ``no mining'' alternative is not analyzed in detail
because 79 percent of the surface-minable coal within the coal project
area is privately owned and BLM believes that the private surface coal
could be economically mined even if the Federal coal is not leased.
However, if no Federal coal were leased, the non-Federal underground
coal reserves would become uneconomical to mine due to the checkerboard
pattern of mineral ownership existing in the center of the basin. Under
the Proposed Action, the BLM preferred alternative, the BLM would hold
a competitive lease sale for surface-minable and underground-minable
Federal coal. The Proposed Action includes the analysis of leasing
Federal coal for both surface (Elk Mountain) and underground
(Saddleback Hills) mining operations and examines 10 options for
transporting coal to processing/loadout facilities.
The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is a cooperating agency in the
preparation of the EIS. OSM is the Federal agency that administers
surface coal mining under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation
Act of 1977.
Freedom of Information
Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will
be available for public review at the addresses listed above during
regular business hours (7:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday,
except holidays, and may be published as part of the Final EIS.
Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to
withhold your name or street address from public review or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your written comment.
[[Page 42061]]
Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.
Dated: July 30, 1998.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 98-21013 Filed 8-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P
